


Raining Like Cats and Dogs

by KaithTheKid



Category: Monster High
Genre: Abusive Relationships, F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-05-14 06:11:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5732284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaithTheKid/pseuds/KaithTheKid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clawdeen and Toralei get stuck in Monster High during a nasty storm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Toralei stretched on the grass, paws behind her head as she stared at the clouds. The gathering storm and slow drumbeats of her music fit each other perfectly, the eerie melodies combining with the wind to compliment the atmosphere of the afternoon. She closed her eyes, inhaling the fresh air, a bit sharp with the smell of far off rain. Like any sensible werecat, Toralei hated the rain, but she loved storms. She could feel when they would be coming, and would find a place all by herself to watch and feel the change in wind. Often, seeking that place alone meant the roof or a tree but today was a Saturday and not many people were at the school. She herself was only there to escape Meowledy and Purrsephone. When those two were fighting, it was best to be as far away as possible. She sighed and smiled, stretching from her pinkie claw to above her hands, forepaws brushing the soft grass. She opened her eyes and watched a wisp of soft grey melt into a larger, charcoal cloud. Soon it would be time to go inside and escape the rain. The music in her ears ebbed and flowed with the clouds. 

Without warning, a brown head covered in wavy curls moved in the way of the clouds. Caught by surprise, Toralei jump and rolled onto all four paws pushing herself to her feet as she hissed and spat curses at the intruder. She winced as the ear buds ripped from her tender ears.

Clawdeen held up her hands, taking a few steps back. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s just me.” Toralei huffed through her nose, slowly relaxing her muscles. She groomed her fur back in place as Clawdeen continued. “Sorry ghoul, I thought you heard me coming! I didn’t see the ear buds.” 

Toralei shrugged as she regained her composure, tucking her iCoffin into her back pocket. The second she was calm and ready to get to sassin’, the storm hit in full force and soaked her to the skin. Clawdeen hefted her bag onto her shoulder and ran for the school, but the angry cat beat her inside. 

The ghouls leaned on the wall panting, and Clawdeen groaned as she gently dropped her bag to the ground. Though she had only been outside a few seconds, her thick hair was nearly soaked through. Bending from the waist, Clawdeen shook her hair, then flipped it while standing straight. “Much better.”

The scowl and grumbling beside her told Clawdeen that Toralei strongly disagreed with that assessment. Her attempts to dry off were much less efficient, and much less successful, than the werewolf’s. “Do you want any help?”

“I am doing just fine, just as I was before you ruined my day.”

“It’s not my fault we got wet! You were the one laying on the ground outside,” Clawdeen snapped.

“I was keeping an eye on the clouds and you distracted me, or I would have been inside with time to spare!” Toralei gave up trying to wring out her skirt and turned on her heel, stomping off down the hall. By the time she had reached the locker room, her stomp had wilted to a slump and her ears were low with dismay. While attempting to tell the twins of her miserable luck, Toralei had discovered her iCoffin had gotten drenched in the downpour and refused to do more than buzz sadly. Everything that could go wrong in a cat’s life had gone wrong. She was cold, she was wet, she hated being cold and wet, her phone died, and now her enjoyable afternoon of studying and reading was going to be a terrible afternoon of studying and reading…. with the smell of wet dog filling the school. Just great. 

At least she had spare gym clothes- clean sweatpants and a tee shirt. Toralei draped her wet things over the edges of changing stalls. The reflection in the mirror was still mussed, unfashionable and damp, her phone seemed hopelessly dead, but at least she wasn’t soaking wet. She wandered back to the library, where her backpack waited. 

Clawdeen Wolf also waited. She too had shed her soaked outer layer, thanking her lucky stars she wore a cami and leggings under her sweater dress and jacket. The hallway was lined with old heaters that were warm enough to dry them out before she headed home. She hoped so, anyway. Clothes all figured out, it was time to start on the real reason she was at the school library on a Saturday. Unfortunately, the real reason had gotten just as wet as she had. Through a snarl, Clawdeen shouted, “This bag was supposed to be WATERPROOF!” 

Toralei walked back into the library to see Clawdeen hurriedly dumping the contents of her messenger bag on the floor, grabbing pieces of paper and laying them flat on a nearby table. Some of the papers were wrinkled as Clawdeen worked fast to rescue the worst off ones. Toralei walked to the table and saw what her frenemy was so desperately trying to save- watercolor paintings. She gently smoothed some out, sliding them away from the edge Clawdeen was working at. Absorbed in her task, Clawdeen barely noticed the help, simply laying them on the edge of the table as one by one, they were gingerly moved to the middle and smoothed perfectly flat. Toralei realized her paws were becoming tinted colors from the paint and wiped them on her sweatpants to keep other paintings from being spoiled. As Clawdeen pushed her hair out of her eyes, she looked up and smiled gratefully at the kitty. She grabbed what was left of the bag’s contents- mostly textbooks and pencils, paint brushes and a tightly shut palette of paint and unceremoniously plopped them on the edge of the table. She left to put her empty bag with the rest of her clothes, and returned to Toralei thoughtfully looking at the paintings. A single claw traced the air above one of them, as she followed the graceful shapes. 

“Thanks for your help, Toralei. You didn’t have to.”

“Did too, you were messing them up. I didn’t know you were so talented.” Clawdeen snorted. “I’m not even being sarcastic.” Toralei smirked, still looking at the paintings. “I’m not always catty.”

“Just usually.” Toralei nodded at Clawdeen’s words, grinning. “Thanks, ghoul, but I still need a lot more work.” She wound her mass of brown waves up and slid a pencil to hold her hair off her face. She nodded at Toralei’s hair, still stringy from the rain. “There’s a nice warm spot near the corner, there’s like three heaters in one place over there.” She followed as Toralei raced for the spot, dragging a heavy table to the center of the three heaters. In seconds the werecat was stretched out on top, her hair inches away from one of the heaters. She began to relax then dug in her pocket, grabbing the drowned phone and pressing the on button. When it didn’t switch on, she slumped and removed the battery, setting the pieces of the phone on the table to dry. 

Clawdeen perched on the edge of the table briefly, then jumped off. In a few minutes, she returned with a small bag filled with small white packets. “Put your phone in here, it will be dried out in no time.” Toralei reluctantly obeyed, sending a questioning look to the werewolf. “It’s silica gel. Y’know, from shoes and food and stuff. It keeps things dry in their packaging, so I collected them and put them here.” She gingerly placed the bag on the table. “It gets technology dried out faster. I’m friends with Lagoona- it helps to be prepared.”

“Me-ow, I like the sounds of that, Nefera will kill me if I miss responding to her texts.”

Clawdeen paused, then asked a question she had just been dying to ask. Everybody had their theories, but nobody had an answer. It would unkill Spectra if she knew before the infamous gossip. “Uh.. .why are you two together anyway?” 

Toralei’s eyes popped open and she snarled under her breath. “What, you don’t think I’m good enough for a queen? I’ll have you know, she asked me out, I didn’t come to her for a pity date-”

“What? No! I just didn’t think she’d be…. your type.”

“What is THAT supposed to mean?! Do I not look gay enough for you? What am I gonna have to do, buzz my hair and only wear flannel?”

“What?! No, just wait, it’s not that!” Toralei snarled, and Clawdeen continued. “Look, I don’t care about class or whatever. And I thought you were bisexual? But whatever, my point is-” Toralei’s fur was all bushy and Clawdeen wondered if it would make things worse or better if she continued. She braced herself and said it- “She’s just so mean.” Toralei looked shocked and Clawdeen rushed on, “You have your moments, but you’re not so bad. I can talk to you and the nasty pranks aren’t causing bodily harm lately, you’ve even joined fearleading again- but Nefera is terrible! The things she’s done to Cleo, to Duece- to you!”

Toralei looked uncomfortable and Clawdeen felt a pang of unbearable guilt. “She’s not so bad,” Toralei muttered. She sat up. “She can be nasty sometimes, but I like nasty. Nobody’s perfect, and she can be sweet sometimes.” Her voice was bordering on the defensive, and Clawdeen narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Well, it could be worse. I could be dating the other DeNile.”

Clawdeen rolled her eyes, scoffing. “Oh you wish, Cleo is ten times the ghoul Nefera is.” She knew she didn’t have to rise too much to Cleo’s defense. The disdain in Toralei’s voice seemed forced at best. A dim and distant light bulb clicked in her brain. “Oh. My. Ghoul.”

“What?” It came out as a nervous yowl, making Toralei cringe. 

Clawdeen held up her hands, shaking her head. “No, no, it’s not my place to speculate.” She stood up and stretched, Toralei half-sitting up in suspicion. “I need to get back to work. Those paintings won’t label themselves.” 

Part of Toralei was dying with curiosity about what Clawdeen had realized, or thought she realized. Did she reveal to much? Either way, it didn’t matter too much. After the ‘werelice’ incident, Clawdeen had been even better at keeping secrets. She never passed gossip along, true or not. Toralei settled back down, shifting so the dampest parts of her fur were facing towards the heat. There was no point in worrying. Whatever the wolfgirl thought was none of her concern. She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to put it out of her mind and relax before she got back to studying. Still, her tail twitched in irritation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toralei's phone turns back on, and she almost wishes it had stayed dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned: This chapter deals with manipulation, and emotional abuse to a certain degree.

Clawdeen shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her mind. It was none of her business. Reaching her table, she put her hands on her hips and looked over the table. The paintings were mostly salvageable, though a few had gotten so waterlogged, the painting was destroyed. One went from being a simple sketch of a vase in sunlight to being a smudge of bright color and shadows. Lovely as it was, it was no longer useful to her. A couple of others were the same, and she stacked those in a pile on the corner. Many only had a bit of dampness at the edges, and would show nothing after they were dried. As she sorted them into their levels of damage and then again, into the order she needed for her portfolio, Clawdeen reflected it could definitely have been much worse. Still, this project was due on Monday and in a matter of minutes, Clawdeen had gone from “right on time” to “somewhat behind schedule.” Grabbing the heaviest books she could find, she placed them one by one on the paintings to return them to their original wrinkle-free state. The work was mechanical while she puzzled on a problem. The still life watercolor painting had been finished by everybody long ago, and been taken down last week. The other two, a landscape and a portrait piece, would be easy to recreate. There were landscapes and monsters all over the place she could paint. 

Her buzzing iCoffin interrupted with a message from Howleen. ::R U ok? Mom is worrying her fur off.::

Clawdeen sank into a chair, her claws clicking on the screen as she texted back.

Clawdeen: Lol tell her I’m fine. The storm might keep me here longer though. It’s bad out there.   
Howleeen: Mom says to keep your phone charged and keep an eye on the weather.  
Clawdeen: Yeah, I will. Why isn’t she texting me?  
Howleen: LOL she is. she’s still on the second word but she’ll get there. 

Clawdeen chuckled, her laugh ringing in the empty library. She was glad she had gotten to the school- her house was terrible to weather out a storm in. Too many siblings to get underfoot, and most of them were too young to growl at. She wanted some space and quiet to make her watercolor portfolio, and to work on other work, but sometimes it was better to have a kid sibling distract you from having to actually do the work you came to do. Clawdeen stretched, the jumped up and checked the time. Toralei’s phone should be dry now.

The cat was still curled up, a soft purr coming from her. Clawdeen hesitated, then turned around. She was not going to disturb Toralei a second time. She might get clawed. 

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” came a sleepy yowl. Toralei stretched gracefully, every bit of her stretched as fully as possible. Even her ears flattened briefly as she yawned. “What’s up?”

“Wanna check your iCoffin? It should be all dried up now.” The kitty was wide awake and alert now, pouncing at the bag and whipping out the cellphone pieces. She fit them together in seconds, tapped the button and stood back with her her claws crossed. Clawdeen smothered a giggle. The phone buzzed and the screen flicked on. Purring loudly, Toralei snatched up the device and hugged it to her choice. “Should I get you a room?” Clawdeen dryly commented. A disdainful sniff was the response- Toralei was too busy checking missed updates, calls, and texts. 

As her thumb kept flicking, Toralei seemed to droop. Tail slunk to hang straight down, and her ears, once so pointy with glee, were low with disappointment and hurt. Clawdeen took a step closer, her hand gentle on the werekitty’s back. In a soothing voice, Clawdeen asked, “Are you okay?” 

Toralei shrugged off the hand, turning back with a bright smile and syrupy voice. “I’m just furriffic, thank you very much. I certainly don’t need your help.” Her eyes were too bright. “I need to get back to work.” 

Clawdeen let her pass, shocked by the switch from a genuinely happy Toralei to the nasty piece of work she was used to. It had never seemed more than an act. She remembered something. “Ghoul, you better charge that fang. The storm is supposed to get worse.”

Toralei was already texting someone back, and wiped a tear away with her arm. “How much worse?” 

“I haven’t checked yet. I’ll do that now. You go deal with that.” 

All too eager to go back to her private study corner, Toralei booked it for her books. Clawdeen turned to her iCoffin and checked the weather. The entire town and most of the countryside covering it was covered in nasty looking clouds on the satellite, and it looked as if the worst part of the storm hadn’t even hit yet. She gazed out the nearest window- pitch black, when only an hour or so ago, there had simply been a cloudy day. A chill ran down her spine. She had sworn when she left the house, they were only supposed to get a bit of rain, certainly nothing on this magnitude. She sighed and tracked Toralei down. 

“Look, I’m sorry to bother you, but you gotta charge your phone. See?” Clawdeen knelt to where Toralei had spread some of her text books on the floor, showing her the weather map.   
“I thought it was just a little rain.”  
“Me too. Guess we were wrong.” Clawdeen paused. “I’m sorry I upset you. I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s okay.” Clawdeen walked away, leaving Toralei to plug in her iCoffin and stare at the small glowing screen. With half an ear cocked, she listened to the retreating wolf’s footfalls. Nefera, as predicted, did not take the phone dying well. It seems her iCoffin had only been dead for 45 minutes, but Nefera had gotten furious when the first text went unanswered after 5 minutes. From there, a deluge of rage. Most monsters would have worried about the absence of their ghoulfiend, or assumed they were simply busy. Nefera had come up with many other options, all of them less reasonable, all of them terrible, and most of them related to Toralei cheating on her. 

It’s not like she hadn’t tried to explain. She did, twice so far, but Nefera told her it was a flimsy excuse. Toralei wished she hadn’t turned her phone back on, but if she hadn’t, it only would have gotten worse. Meowledy and Purrsephone had gotten over their fight at least, but Toralei didn’t have the energy to tell her tale of woe to them just now. She sent texts to them and her parents, so they would know what was going on with the weather. Her parents were calmer than she expected, telling her to charge her phone and not do anything risky. There wasn’t any risk that Toralei would brave the storm to come home. Her clothing still wasn’t dry yet and she’d have to walk- or swim, if the weather map was right. The twins responded quickly- Meolwedy told her there was some snacks in her locker Toralei could have if she got too hungry, and Purrsephone added that there was a lot of falling limbs and trees. Half their neighborhood had lost power already. Both expressed their sympathies that she was stuck at school in a storm.

Nefera didn’t seem to care, and demanded that she come immediately to her home. They had had a date for that evening, and Nefera refused to see reason. If phones could shout, Nefera would be screaming. As it was, her allcaps typing was not easy on Toralei’s sensitive eyes. She sighed and switched her phone to airplane mode to let it charge faster. With a stretch, Toralei turned to her books, flipping open to her Clawculus homework and getting started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The silicone packet thing for phones works way better than rice and I greatly recommend it. Just saying.
> 
> As far as Nefera/Cleo, I do not think any relationship involving Nefera could be a healthy one, platonic or romantic. This fic will deal a lot with relationships, the good and the bad. It just so happens that right now, the bad is in focus. The next few chapters will include this as well- but it won't all be gloom and doom.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clawdeen and the ghouls chat about the storm and Toralei. Mostly Toralei.

Across the library, Clawdeen’s fuzzy ears perked at the incessant buzzing of her phone. One text was from her mother, a short, “Howleen told us. Stay safe. I love you.” The six (and counting) buzzes after that were her ghouls, chatting in the group message. Clawdeen ignored it. She had the slick plastic folder prepared and labeled, as professional as a high school wolf operating on a budget could make it. She carefully slid the paintings that survived and were now pressed flat into their plastic pockets. Now that they were completely safe from harm, Clawdeen was mentally kicking herself for not just doing this bit at home. Surely she could have just taken them out and relabeled once she got to the school but noooo. Hindlegsight was 20/20. That small-but very important- task finished, Clawdeen settled back into her chair and looked at the busy chat. 

Cleo: Nefera is furious. She says Toralei is having an affair with Clawdeen??  
Frankie: What’s fried her bolts?  
Cleo: No clue. Clawdeen, you there? Cuz if you really are with Toralei, we’re gonna have to hide you ghouls.  
Draculara: LOL  
Cleo: No but really…. She’s already torched like half her wardrobe can you even imagine?  
Cleo: Not much of a waste though, she has HORRID taste.  
Frankie: I’ve fried half my wardrobe before….  
Draculara: Sweetie, you are a clutz, not a jerk. Clawdeen, where even are you?  
Draculara: I’m beginning to worry.  
Cleo: What, you think she and Toralei really ARE together?  
Draculara: No silly, the storm.  
Frankie: Look outside Draculara. Even I wouldn’t go out in this and I LIKE electricity.

Clawdeen rolled her eyes and began to type. 

Clawdeen: Ghouls, I’m fine. I got to the school just as it began to storm- Toralei and I took shelter in the library.  
Cleo: ……..Uh.  
Clawdeen: NOT. LIKE. THAT.  
Clawdeen: She was already here when I got here.  
Draculara: Oh good, I’m so glad you’re safe!  
Frankie: Me too, sucks you’re stranded though.  
Clawdeen: Could be worse. Could be stuck with Nefera. She sounds like a nightmare.  
Cleo: You’re telling me. Now imagine LIVING with her. (Clawdeen cringed at the thought).  
Clawdeen: Do any of you know what’s going on with her and Toralei? Cuz…It’s not looking good from where I’m standing.  
Cleo: Nor I. Nefera isn’t pleasant.  
Frankie: Neither is Toralei….  
Draculara: She’s so much better since she’s back on the squad though.  
Abbey: I leave for one hour and already there is drama.  
Abbey: But last week kitty was crying in the restroom. She did not want to talk about it.  
Cleo: What day?  
Abbey: Thursday I am thinking.  
Cleo: That is the day Nefera was trying to tell me to kick her off the fearleading squad when she JUST joined up again. I bet she was bullying Tory too.  
Draculara: TORY?  
Abbey: Is cute name.  
Frankie: yeah but TORY?!??  
Cleo: It’s what Nefera calls her and Dad started using it…. it just caught on.  
Clawdeen: I’m with her on this, when you hear Clawd saying “Dracy” all the time, it’s hard not to use it too.  
Draculara: Lol thank ghoul, that would be totally awk.  
Frankie: You two are so gross but in the cutest way  
Draculara: Thanks~!

Clawdeen stretched out her arms and tucked her legs and tail underneath her. It seemed a good time to settle in for a good gossip. Mad Science could wait a few minutes. 

Cleo: Wait, are Deuce and I not cute?  
Cleo: We are the most adorable power couple in this school, and I know it but I need to hear it anyway.  
Clawdeen: *rolls eyes* of course you are. we just don’t know Deuce’s gross nicknames for you. But that’s beside the point.  
Abbey: Then what is point?  
Clawdeen: ….Does anybody else think that Nefera is treating Toralei badly?  
Abbey: If what Cleo says is true, then yes.  
Frankie: Y’know, it does seem kinda toxic  
Frankie: Last week she said Nefera told her she couldn’t go to the pre-game dinner with us.  
Draculara: That’s why she skipped?  
Cleo: Yeah. It gets worse. I can’t even talk to Toralei when she’s in our house, Nefera gets furious.  
Clawdeen: It just seems all around nasty.  
Abbey: I am not close to Toralei, but she does not have to put up with this. Kitty deserves better.  
Frankie: Agreed.  
Frankie: Though should we even be talking about this…?  
Clawdeen: I guess it is nosy, isn’t it? I just… worried. She seems so sad.  
Clawdeen: I dunno how I can help.  
Cleo: Me neither.  
Frankie: we’ll figure it out. We always do.  
Ghoulia: Fixing a time machine is one thing. Fixing a bad relationship is a little out of our depths.  
Ghoulia: Unrelated but bring an umbrella on Monday. Jackson and I aren’t too sure how well our new machine is going to work.  
Ghoulia: And that is all I am going to say.  
Clawdeen: Well I’m going to get to work. And maybe talk to her a little. Who knows how long we’ll be stuck here. I can’t just sit here and worry and do nothing about it.  
Cleo: Be careful.  
Abbey: Do not make her hurt more than she is hurting.  
Clawdeen: Noted. Love you ghouls!

Clawdeen flipped her phone over, grinning as it buzzed furiously then quieted. Flicking it back over, she saw all of them had chorused their love. She set the conversation to mute while they began to quiz Ghoulia on the mysterious new machine.  
It wasn’t easy to focus on her work. She tried, but instead of labelling the drawing of a “Audrey II”, a massive meat-eating plant, Clawdeen was looking out the window and tapping her pencil. She wasn’t friends with Toralei, but they weren’t so much enemies either. Sure, she was touchy and proud, mischievous and sometimes even borderline cruel, but even a jerk didn’t deserve treatment like this. Her wolfish intuition had been bugging her for some time, and now with the evidence, she couldn’t ignore it anymore. Her pencil tapped to the beating rhythm of the rain as it came harder.  
It was like an algebra problem. She had her solution- Toralei realizes she deserves to be happy in a relationship, and breaks up with Nefera, leaving to heal and be happy. And she knew where she was right now- an apprehensive friend who could see that things were all wrong. The bit where she- or anybody- could actually influence anything Toralei did was the part that didn’t seem plausible. That was the X that needed to be solved for right now. The ghoul did not like advice. Toralei was a fan of being nosy herself, but not so much when people nosed about her. Clawdeen definitely couldn’t argue with that. She cringed and buried her head in her hands. Was this even something she should get involved in? Maybe it would be better if she kept her keen nose out of Toralei’s life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's dark, it's stormy, and now it's REALLY dark because the power has gone out.

The thunder crashed and the castle went black. In the other section of the library, Clawdeen hear a startled “YOWWL” ending with a snarl. Clawdeen herself jumped out of her chair, hair and fur bristling. With the low electric hums gone, she could hear the sounds of other surprised students echoing through the stone halls. 

An ear flicked back- Toralei was approaching on her left. “You weren’t kidding about charging our phones, huh?” Not waiting for an answer, she led the way through the library into the hall. They immediately heard the distinctive clicking of Nightmare’s hooves on the polished stone floor, and recoiled from the bright flashlight her rider, Headmistress Bloodgood, was carrying. 

“Ah, ghouls.” She dismounted with a sigh, settling her head upon her neck. “Well, as you can see, we have no power. The backup generator has been gooped over for the past month, too.” She sighed again and waved a hand to indicate Clawdeen’s clothes strewn on the pipes. “I was going around the school gathering students anyways- with all the fallen trees and power lines, it simply isn’t safe to be sending any of you home tonight. I was going to just have you join the boarding students in the creepateria for dinner, and then send you to spare rooms, but we might have to find a contingency plan.” She stood in thought for a moment.

“Ma’am? What do you want us to do?” Clawdeen asked hesitatingly. 

“Oh! My dear, I’m sorry I was lost in thought. Gather your things and head to the creepateria. Do you need flashlights?” Both girls shook their heads. As were-animals, their night vision was better than most other monsters. Bloodgood nodded absently, then hummed a bit under her breath. “With the power out, we might use a fireplace and roast some haunt dogs. I don’t want cold jellied brains, do you?” The girls shuddered in horror. Bloodgood smiled, then mounted Nightmare again. “Don’t take your time, I don’t want lost students wandering the halls.”She started off down the hall. “And don’t you two separate!”

The girls stood there for a second, watching her proceed down the wall. Toralei sighed and stalked off the opposite direction. After a second, Clawdeen bounded to catch up. “Eugh, you don’t have to follow me.”

“You heard her, we’re not supposed to split up.” Clawdeen rolled her eyes in the dark.

“I’ll be fine. I can see as well as you do.” Toralei managed to make even a benign comment sound like an insult when she was in a mood. “I have to get my clothes. Maybe they’re dry now.”

“Where’d you put them anyway?”

“The locker room. I needed something to change into.”

Clawdeen nodded. “Oh. That makes sense.”

“Of course it does.”

“Chill, Toralei, just making conversation.” Toralei let out a huffy sigh. “Seriously ghoul, I just want to be friendly. I’ve got nothing against you when you’re not stirring up trouble.”

Toralei smirked, knowing Clawdeen would see it in the dark and purred, “Sometimes trouble is just begging to be stirred, and some monster’s gotta do it.” Clawdeen rolled her eyes again as they walked into the locker room. She grabbed the cat’s clothes and handed them to her, hearing a pathetic little whimper. They were still wet. Not as soaked as they had been, but far too wet to put on. Toralei stalked back to the library in silence, ears down and tail puffy in irritation. Clawdeen let her go, keeping her in sight through the darkened maze. Once there, Toralei commented, “I’m going to go get my stuff. You good?”

“Yeah I’m good.” Clawdeen responded, already tugging her clothes off the pipes where she had draped them to dry. They were drier than Toralei’s, but still damp. She shrugged as she went back to her table, putting them on the floor where they couldn’t damage wooden table or ancient books. Keeping half an ear on Toralei, Clawdeen gathered up her books and folders. With a groan, she remembered that she had three watercolor paintings to do now, with no chance to go see a landscape, no chance to make someone do a portrait sitting, and fur sure, no still life set up for her to capture. She mused her options, still packing and tidying her area. 

Toralei was also tidying, having created more of a mess since she had been there several hours longer than Clawdeen. Tail twitching, she realized her phone was fully charged and she had no excuse to not tell Nefera that now she’d be stuck at the school overnight. Her parents were overprotective, and yet Toralei knew they’d take it much calmer than her ghoulfriend. Either way, there was no point in texting right this second, she reasoned with herself. After all, if she did, it would strain her eyes to go from bright light to darkness and back again. Better just to text when they were sitting down. Such reasoning bought her a few more minutes to figure out the best way to break the news to Nefera. 

Lost in thought, the ghouls almost bumped into each other at the library’s entrance. “Oh, sorry,” murmured Clawdeen, gnawing on a claw before forcing herself to stop damaging her clawpolish.

Toralei just made a “hmph” sound before adding, “You coming?” and gesturing with her head in the direction of the creepeteria. Her hands, like Clawdeen’s, were full of damp clothing. They walked on, both still thinking.

Clawdeen broke the silence. She had come to part of a conclusion about the paintings. “So Toralei…. would you mind sitting for a portrait for me?” She rushed on, “Look, I have to paint someone, and Bloodgood is gonna be busy. Or I’d ask her. You don’t have to even do anything, just do your reading for all I care.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Toralei elegantly shrugged. “You owe me one, though.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Clawdeen grinned. “Thank you. It’s a huge help, honestly.”

“That bad with the paintings?”

“Yeah. One of them, I have no chance of getting the way I’m supposed to, and the other… well the landscape is all dark and stormy. I can’t just paint black.”

“Won’t it be creative licence or whatever?” Toralei was somewhat half-hearted with her snark. “He’s a cool monster though, he’ll understand you had some issues.”

Clawdeen bit her lip in worry. “I guess you’re right. It’s just…. I don’t want it to be okay. I want it to be perfect. And the ones I did were perfect. I would have gotten an A fur sure, and I messed it all up by not having them safer.” As they stepped in the creepeteria, the sickly green light coming from a few upended flashlights cast shadows on her shaking head. “I messed it all up. I don’t really deserve your help- I should just accept the fail. But thank you. I want to try to give this a shot, at least get a C.”

They grabbed a table, scanning the tables for faces they knew well. Both teens were aware their beast friends were safe at home in the comfortable warmth, but there were a few friends here and there. There were none Clawdeen knew well, and for the moment, it seemed easier just to stay with Toralei instead of making awkward conversation with awkward acquaintances. At least conversation was easy with Toralei, if not always pleasant. 

Toralei dumped her clothes on the table and dropped her backpack on the bench beside her. She propped her fist on her chin and continued their conversation. “You’re too hard on yourself, Clawdeen.”

Clawdeen snorted. “I just want to do well, that’s all.”

Toralei raised an eyebrow. “What, you don’t think you’ve done well so far?” She sat up, counting her claws on one paw with the other. “Let’s see, you helped settle multiple century long feuds, captured a giant monster thing, kick started a girl’s SKRM team and saved our school from literally falling apart, had a paw in saving the vampire hierarchy, and the world from massive impact with Astranova’s ship- not even mentioning you had your own fashion show, which you pulled off in one night, and the only reason you were up for that internship was because of your clawesome fashions catching the world’s greatest designer’s attention.” She leaned back, smirking. “I’d say you’ve done pretty well.”

Clawdeen rolled her eyes. It was becoming second nature- Toralei said eye-rolling things a lot. “You caused more than half of those, you know.” Toralei brushed it off with a wave of her paw. “Anyway, I didn’t do any of that on my own. Most of it, I barely did a thing. Like the vampire thingy- all I did was go along with Draculara.” She pulled her thick curly hair out of its ponytail. With the heating off, it was beginning to be chilly, and her hair was still damp anyway. It would dry out faster when it was loose. “I’m usually just following someone else’s lead. I don’t really do anything on my own.”

“Oh yeah? Who designs those clothes for you? Or sews them?” Toralei smirked. “If you’ve got their number, I need to get in contact. Some of those looks are simply purrfect.”

Clawdeen fiddled with a lock of her hair, trying to smooth it. “I do, but they’re far from perfect. A lot of them need more work. They’re good enough, for a high schooler, but-”

Toralei interrupted her with a quiet snarl. “Are you serious? You should be proud- I’ve even SEEN you be proud of your work sometimes! Don’t just say you could be better, don’t attack yourself like that.” Toralei slumped back, arms crossed, face sour. “I’d kill to have as much talent as you have in your pinkie claw. But you say you suck.”

Clawdeen was speechless. Toralei was usually the first to rip people apart.

“I say, own up to it. Sure, you get your fang ups- who doesn’t? But that doesn’t mean you aren’t learning and improving every day.” She pointed a claw to the bag holding the watercolors. “I saw what you did, and it was beautiful. You got skills, and you should use them.”

Clawdeen recovered herself and rested her cheek on her palm. “Why, Toralei, you’d almost think you cared.”

Toralei turned her head, still stubbornly cross-armed. “Hmph.” With a pause, she reluctantly added, “Of course I do.”

“Uh. What?” Clawdeen squinted in confusion. “Oh-kayyyy. Why?”

Toralei spoke as she leaned forward. “Behind all the cattitude, I know I’m-” She was cut off by a loud neigh and clatter of hooves as Nightmare reared and stamped the ground. 

Headmistress Bloodgood stood at the front of the creepeteria. “Thank you, Nightmare.” The horse made a quiet sound and bobbed her head in a horsey “You’re welcome.” “Now, pupils, you all know we have lost power and because of the continuing inclement weather, those of you who do not live here must stay the night. If you haven’t contacted your parents informing them of the situation, you should do so when I’m finished. Ask them to contact me if they have further questions, I’ll be happy to explain.” She took a breath and smiled warmly. “Nobody wants to be cold on a night like this, and I know it’s an unpleasant situation. So we’re going to try to have a little fun.” Shooting a glare at the table where Heath and Manny sat, she specified, “A controlled, safe kind of fun. We shall light a fire in the main study howl, where we’ll all enjoy a dinner of roasted haunt dogs and marshmallows.” She paused as the students cheered. Smiling, she went on. “Now, we do have a few spare boarding rooms, so some students who wish to sleep in one of the beds can talk to me. For the rest of us, we will remain in the study howl with the fire. Be warned, the boarding wing will be cold, and while we have some blankets, I’m sure it would be warmer by the fireplace. That said, those of you who board here are welcome to stay by the fire as well.”

Someone near the front spoke up, her light and melodious voice echoing to the back under the pounding sound of rain. “So, it will be like a giant sleepover?”

The Headless Headmistress grinned. “Yes, exactly like a giant sleepover.” She eyed the students, most of whom seemed excited at the prospect. “Does anybody wish to spend the night in a room?” Nobody rose their hand. “That’s settled! We shall all sleep in the study howl tonight. Boarding students, please bring your own blankets and pillows so we have more to spare.” She clapped her hands once and took off her head. “Well, let’s all go to the study howl! I will be counting heads in twenty minutes so-” a glare was leveled at Heath and Manny- “I suggest you all be there at that time.”

As she turned to lead the way, a mild hubbub broke out as students gathered their things and chattered to their friends. Toralei and Clawdeen rose and did the same, dragging heavy bags across campus yet again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody begins to settle in for a long night.

Heath blazed up, lighting the halls and already giving a more cheerful air to the whole evening. The second they reached the study howl, Heath set the large fireplace ablaze. Though there were less than two dozen monsters in the massive room, it immediately seemed crowded as students dropped their things and started dragging tables and chairs where they wanted them. Bloodgood watched with an eagle eye, making sure no student damaged the property or did something unsafe- twice she had to shout at Manny for trying to stack the tables and chairs into what he claimed would be a throne. 

Clawdeen commandeered a couple of chairs a safe distance from the fire and lay out her clothing on one.She gestured to Toralei to hand over her wet things as well, and draped them on the other. Together, they dragged a table towards a large window and shoved their bags on top, then shouldered in for a spot at the fire. While a couple of aquatic monsters and a slimey boy had stayed far away from the fire, everybody else was getting as close as they could without burning up. Of course, the one exception was Heath, but for once he was being helpful, keeping his head aflame for the surrounding pupils. With Heath around, they might as well have had two fireplaces. 

Toralei stretched out, the warmth soaking deep into her bones. Clawdeen lay beside her with a sigh. For a moment, both just lay in silence, eyes closed. The light from the fire glowed even through their eyelids, and the patter of the rain against the windowpane sounded like music when heard with the soft chatter of their classmates. Clawdeen would have gone to sleep easily. She heard a buzz two feet to her left. Lifting one eyelid as little as she could, Clawdeen saw that the boy next to her was texting. It was an unpleasant reminder that she hadn’t told her parents about the new plan yet. Clawdeen’s movement and the tapping of her claws on the iCoffin reminded Toralei of the same duty, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

Switching it off of airplane mode was exactly as fun as Toralei had thought it would be. Her phone exploded with Nefera’s angry texts. She frowned, scrolling through page after page of Nefera’s texts. She didn’t read them all, simply skimmed. Even that hurt. Toralei switched conversations and told her parents the arrangements for the night, and to talk to Bloodgood if they wanted to know more. They took the news well, controlling their worry and telling her to be good and have fun. Toralei smiled. She knew they’d immediately talk to Bloodgood… just to make sure their daughter really would be safe. 

With a cringe, she switched to the…. other conversation. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Toralei typed out the message.

Toralei: Hey Neffy. The weather has us trapped at Monster High. There’s too many trees and wires down, all the streets are closed down. We’re all going to sleep in a study howl with Mistress Bloodgood chaperoning.  
Nefera: If you say so….  
Toralei: It’s gonna suck. Wish I were with you.  
Nefera: …. yeah.

Toralei felt the tears well up. She did miss Nefera, and the thought of cuddling up with her to wait out the storm was a pleasant one, assuming Nefera was being pleasant. She wasn’t sure what she expected. After all, Nefera was already completely convinced she was cheating- she certainly wasn’t going to take it well that Toralei was not only out of her supervision but in a room full of possible affairs. Still, a part of her had hoped Nefera would see how much the situation still sucked, and give some sympathy or even conversation instead of the dismissal. She knew how the night would be now. Nefera would be dismissive and tart, replying in short messages, then lay it down with a long paragraph about how Toralei didn’t really appreciate her or what she did, and treated her badly. She’d tell her how Toralei was so lucky that Nefera loved her as much as she did because anybody else would have left. 

And then Toralei would apologize, ask how she could do better, and Nefera wouldn’t tell her. Toralei would beg to see how she could make up for the slight, and Nefera wouldn’t tell her. She’d do something, anything to try to soothe Nefera’s mood, but the flowers would get thrown, the chocolates burnt, the poetry ripped up in front of her eyes. Or worse, Nefera would turn away, shrug a shoulder and ignore Toralei for the rest of the evening. Their date night, ruined because Toralei had messed up, somehow, and didn’t know how. It had happened many times before, repeating in ever varying ways no matter how hard Toralei tried to change it. She did everything she could to be the perfect girlfriend, but Nefera always found fault. Especially in the things Toralei couldn’t control- for instance, the weather. 

Toralei didn’t know how to reply to Nefera’s message. She rested her chin on her arms and blinked to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. The knot in her throat and ache in her chest seemed to be swelling, so she focused on the embers in front of her, glowing with a red that she wanted to touch and cradle in her claws. The smoke and the warmth were soothing as she focused only on them. Toralei mentally took out the trash- all the terrible emotions, the anger and sadness and hurt were balled up and tossed in the flame. It didn’t help much, but it helped a little. 

Clawdeen was gently shaking her shoulder and calling her name. “Toralei. Tory, c’mon ghoul, Bloodgood needs us.”

Toralei rolled onto her back and sat up. “Tory?”

Clawdeen shrugged. “Bloodgood needs us to go get the spare blankets and pillows. We’re the only monsters here with nightvision that she trusts.” 

Toralei rose with effortless grace, offering Clawdeen a paw as the wolf heaved herself to her feet. Clawdeen led the way and Toralei followed a half step behind her. She felt as if still half in a trance, a lingering sadness and confusion she couldn’t shake. Something hit her whiskers- touching the fur around them, she realized it was a tear, and not the first. She wiped her face with a hoodie arm. Though Clawdeen had to have noticed, she didn’t say a word. She had a knack for knowing when others needed space. She also knew when a silence needed to be broken.

Watching Toralei wipe her eyes from the corner of her eye, Clawdeen cleared her throat. “So, I was wondering….”She drew out the pause for a few steps.   
“Out with it, Wolfy.”

“Well, earlier, you said you actually did care about my art.” Clawdeen cringed. That’s what it sounded like but she couldn’t be sure. If she was wrong, of course, she knew Toralei would call her out on it, but her curiosity was too much to bear. 

“Oh, that.” She shrugged, opening the door to a large closet filled with linens. As she spoke, she handed blankets to Clawdeen. “Well, I’ve got attitude and that’s about it. Nefera and the twins are the only ones who like me. Don’t deny it, if there were any of your ghouls were here tonight, you’d pair up with them and leave me alone.” Clawdeen wasn’t so sure that was true, but she wasn’t sure that it was false either. Toralei continued, “I’m not talented like you are. I’m average at everything. No skills, few friends, not much going for me except sass.” Toralei lifted a pile of pillows. “So when you sit there and say how you suck, it gets at me. You’ve no idea how good you are, at everything, and you need to. Or you’re gonna fail before you can even begin.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” They set off down the darkened halls again, at a much slower pace. The towers of pillows and blankets probably would have been better carried in two trips, but with a slow pace and careful balance, the ghouls were doing just fine. 

“That was the closest to an inspirational speech I’ll ever get and you don’t believe it?” Toralei’s offended yowl echoed a bit.

“Oh my ghoul, listen for once. I don’t believe the part about you not being talented.” Clawdeen gnawed a bit on her lip. “I don’t know what you’re good at-”

“Nothing, I’m just said that-” Toralei interrupted. 

“Do you ever listen?” Clawdeen shook her head, then took a step back to rebalance her blankets. “I meant, I don’t know you well enough to know what you’re good at. But there’s something, there always is.”

“Not always.” Toralei’s voice was resigned and a bit thoughtful. “Some people have to be average. I don’t mind it most of the time.”

“As for being unlikable, I don’t think that’s true.” They rounded the last corner before the study howl. The wall across from the open double doors was glowing from the firelight. The reflections bounced off lockers and glass, and made the stone wall glow brighter than Clawdeen ever knew stone could. 

“Of course it is. I’d know firstpaw, nobody likes me. Hence, unlikable.” The conversation was cut off by the arrival into the room, as they dumped the blankets and pillows on an empty table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is short! Assuming I get everything I'm planning to do done, then there should be 2 Valentine's Day Monster High fics on Sunday! (If I'm really lucky, I'll manage to do all the cute little one-shots I wanted to do) Keep an eye out!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls finally get a chance to eat and Clawdeen wanders the halls in search of paintbrushes.

Toralei’s nose twitched- some monsters were already roasting their haunt dogs. She sauntered across the room to a table where piles of roasting sticks, haunt dogs, buns, and other delicious foods were laid out. Bloodgood seemed to have conducted a thorough raid on the kitchen, with as many food and drinks as NightMare could carry. It didn’t take long for her to pile a paper plate with her choices and find an empty spot near the fire. It wasn’t particularly close to the flames, but she’d make do. Toralei groaned when she realized she forgot the stick for her haunt dogs and marshmallows. 

An elbow gently prodded her side. “Hey ghoul, will you take these sticks? Or I’m gonna drop em.” True to her word, the sticks fell from her ginger grasp- with just two fingers from the hand holding a cup supporting them, there was no way she could have held them much longer. Toralei easily caught both of them and was pleased to see there were two- Clawdeen must have seen that she didn’t have one. Clawdeen settled on the floor, arranging their drinks and food so that neither ghoul’s tail could knock things over. Toralei gracefully sat beside her, offering the sticks. In a rushed silence, they shoved the haunt dogs on the sticks and proceeded to get roasting.

It was a tricky situation. Though Toralei was all for pushing other students out of the way so they could cook their food, Clawdeen refused to allow it. They tried several positions- huddled by the stone of the hearth, leaning out from the edge, Clawdeen holding both sticks and leaning as far as she could - it was just no use. The massive fireplace was warm, but the flames for roasting food were too centered. Stomach rumbling, Clawdeen sat back on her heels and growled in frustration.

“This is stupid. We’re the reason they’re all going to get blankets tonight and they’re the reason we’re starving to death!” Toralei’s melodramatic yowl was highlighted by the rumbling in her stomach, so loud Clawdeen could actually hear it. Clawdeen couldn’t help but agree, just a little. You’d think just one or two others would scoot a little closer so they could eat. They were the last two to start the haunt dogs- everybody else was moving on to marshmallows. She supposed that meant there’d be more room at the fire soon, but she knew monsters and she knew teenagers. There was good reason their lunch periods were so long- they had a lot of food to get eaten. 

“Hey ladies, can I light your fire?” 

Clawdeen pressed two fingers to her temple, biting back a sigh. “Heath, I am so not in the mood right now.”

Heath held his hands up in innocence. “No really, can I light your fire?” He snapped his fingers, a small flame jumping into the air before settling back onto his index finger. Before Clawdeen could respond, Toralei had shoved the haunt dogs into his hands. In seconds, Heath’s fire had thoroughly cooked them and Toralei bounced off to put them in buns. 

“Thanks, Heath.” He looked proud, looping his now-flameless fingers into his pant loops. 

“I’ll add more flames in this section of the fireplace, too. It needs to be built up more anyway, or we’ll all get cold later tonight.”

“Except for you, of course.”

“Except for me. And you, maybe.” 

Clawdeen frowned at him. This sounded an awful lot like… hitting on her. She stuck out a finger and gently wagged it. “That better be a comment on my fur, hot shot.”

“It was! I swear it!” The voice crack seemed to indicate him being genuine. “You’re…. uh. Fuzzier than usual, is all.” Clawdeen’s gaze followed Heath’s finger to the arm he was pointing at.

“Oh. I don’t shave during the weekends.” Clawdeen crossed her arms, trying to hide the fur. Covering the fur with more fur wasn’t working, so she settled on holding her arms behind her back. “It’s just too much stress when I want to be relaxing.” She cringed. Even an idiot like Heath couldn’t miss how defensive her voice was. She changed the subject. “So, um, sorry for pouncing on you like that. Abbey’s my ghoul and-”

“I know, I don’t blame you. I’ve been a real jerk sometimes.” Heath ran a hand through his golden orange hair. “I really am trying though.”

“I’m glad you are.” Clawdeen warningly raised her finger again. “But if you make Abbey sad for even a second, I am going to end you.” Heath cringed, nodding.

“I know, I know, I’ve had all of you mad at me before. I’m not a fan of doing it again. So, uh, let me build up the fire before you lecture me?” Clawdeen laughed and turned away to fetch her haunt dog stick so she could cook up one when he had finished. She assumed that Toralei had gobbled down both of the ones Heath had already cooked. You just can’t expect a cat to share. 

The cat was holding out a haunt dog when Clawdeen turned around. She stood in shock while Toralei read her mind, waving the food and taunting, “Bet ya thought I’d hog all the food, huh?” Clawdeen’s reply was lost as she wolfed down the dog in two bites. They immediately set to roasting their next ones in the flames Heath had stoked for them. 

“So how are we gonna do the whole painting thing?” Toralei asked. “Are you sure it would even work?”

“Yeah, we’ll have enough light if we sit next to the fire. It just means I’ll have to use less water than usual, really.” Clawdeen nibbled on a claw, thinking. “Oh, slime. I’m going to have to get some supplies out of the art room if we’re going to do this.” 

Toralei shrugged, eyeing her haunt dog to see if it was ready yet. Shoving it back towards the heat, she replied, “That shouldn’t be a big deal though. Are you sure you want me to model? You could ask Heath, he even creates his own light.”

Clawdeen snorted as she carefully slid a bun around her haunt dog. “That boy couldn’t sit still if we stapled him. You hold still, you’re patient, and you’ll be interesting to paint.” She took a bite before noticing Toralei’s skeptical look. “What?”

“‘Interesting,’ huh?” Toralei did finger quotes around the word before grabbing another chip. “What’s that, code for ugly?’

Clawdeen stretched and rolled her eyes. “It means your face isn’t boring.” She scowled at Toralei’s scoff and continued. “Look, some people have really boring faces. Like Bloodgood, for instance. She’s pretty, but it’s a very normal sort of pretty. A lot of film stars are like that- all symmetric, no marks or real intrigue about their face.” Clawdeen ate more chips, thinking. “It’s like the difference between a clear blue sky and a cloudy one. They’re both beautiful, but there’s more to look at with a cloudy sky than just one flat color.”

Toralei stabbed marshmallows on her stick, interested in spite of herself. “You’re making absolutely no sense.”

Clawdeen growled in frustration throwing up her hands. “Augh. I’ll show you when I’m finished. Just, I mean it when I say you’re not ugly, you just have an interesting face. I’m not gonna have to struggle to make a portrait of you stand out and look good.”

“Alright, don’t get a knot in your fur.” Toralei licked the last bits of marshmallow from her claws in utter satisfaction. “Don’t tell my mom but this was way better than the tuna cassarole she was planning for tonight.”

“Mmm, I know what you mean. We were gonna have leftovers tonight, and I didn’t want to have to fight Clawd over the ribs again.” Clawdeen sighed and smiled. Now that she was full and warm by the fire, this wasn’t looking like such a terrible night. Her phone vibrated and Clawdeen saw that there were a ton of missed messages- she had been too busy to check it for a while. It seemed to be a good time now to do so. She skimmed down the group conversation- mostly chatter about the storm and gossip. She had a few private texts from Draculara and Cleo. Curious, she checked Cleo’s first. 

 

Cleo: You need to avoid Nefera for awhile. She’s out of her wrapping with rage that you’re spending the night with Toralei. She even tried to tell me to ditch you because you are a bad influence…Ironic coming from the Queen of Bad Influences.  
Clawdeen: UGH what is UP with her? Seriously.  
Cleo: I know, but seriously…she has a new chest of amulets and I don’t want to find out what exactly they can do.  
Clawdeen: ….Duly noted.  
Cleo: Good, I don’t want to have to replace another ghoul on the fearleading squad. We’re out of good fearleaders in this school.

 

Clawdeen chuckled as she switched to Draculara’s messages.

 

Draculara: Clawdeeeeen!  
Draculara: It’s totally boring not having you to talk to while watching tv  
Draculara: Also is it just me or is something going on with you?  
Clawdeen: Omg, I missed the show! No spoilers I MEAN IT I’m gonna catch up tomorrow  
Clawdeen: What do you mean?  
Draculara: I promise, no spoilers. You’re being a bit… protective over Toralei.  
Draculara: Just making me wonder if maybe you’ve got a bit of a crush  
Clawdeen: Oh my GHOUL noooo! of course not.  
Clawdeen: We’re just fanging out. Getting to know each other a bit. It was her or Heath and Manny.  
Draculara: And none of the others stuck there? You only had three choices out of like 1000 people?  
Clawdeen: Ghoul there’s like 20 of us.  
Draculara: Still you get my point.  
Clawdeen: She’s not so bad, and it’s fun to have some witty banter rather than awkward small talk.  
Draculara: Witty banter is the first step to true love in every rom com.  
Clawdeen: Draculara I don’t have a crush!  
Draculara: Not that it would be a bad thing. Just… be careful. She’s like 80% claws.  
Clawdeen: *rolls eyes* in the case i develop a crush on Toralei I promise to avoid the claws.  
Draculara: That’s all I ask! Love youuu~~~  
Clawdeen: Yeah, yeah :P I’m gonna turn off my phone. pass it on?  
Draculara: kk!

Clawdeen sent a similar message to Clawd before turning off her phone. Glancing over, she saw Toralei was lit by the blue-white glow of her phone. The warm glow of the fire washed over her fur, making the edges of her silhouette glow almost imperceptibly in the firelight. The iCoffin light, harsh on anybody else, brought out colors in Toralei’s features Clawdeen never would have known to look for. She shook her head and grabbed her empty plate and cup. It would never work for a portrait- at least, not a watercolor portrait. Still, she fixed the image in her head as one she’d paint when she had the skills to match Toralei’s withdrawn beauty in that moment. 

Thinking of painting reminded Clawdeen of an important task she had kept putting off. It was easy to find Headmistress Bloodgood, who was comfortably relaxing in one of the lush armchairs throughout the study howl. “Headmistress, I have a question.” The headmistress nodded and waved her to go on, swallowing a bite of smores. “I had some of my art project destroyed by rain and I wanted to work on redoing those lost pieces. Can I get some paint and brushes from the art room?”

Bloodgood nodded, a bit bemused. “Clawdeen, I’m sure Professor Ross will be understanding. You don’t need to work on your homework tonight, just relax and have some fun!”

Clawdeen twisted her hands. “But it really is my fault. And I’ll already have to talk to him about finding some way to make up for the still life, since it’s already been taken down.” Clawdeen felt her cheeks get hot with shame. “I messed up and I’d really like to fix it. I don’t want to be late, Headmistress.”

“Of course you can get the materials, Clawdeen, but I’m sure he’ll give you an exten-” Clawdeen’s thanks poured out and she ran off. It was too much to ask forgiveness from her professor when she was the one who had ruined everything. Though Professor Ross was the kindest and most helpful teacher- or manster, even- Clawdeen couldn’t stand the thought of having to tell him she ruined three paintings. If she redid the portrait, and then managed to do the landscape yesterday, then maybe she could save her grade to at least a C. She decided to not even attempt to recover the still life. It would simply be lost. 

Caught up in her mental recalculation of her grades, Clawdeen almost tripped on the door to the art wing. Opening it, she breathed deeply and smiled. It was as if all the muscles in her back simultaneously relaxed. With smell of drying paint, all kinds of different paints and chemicals, the dust from the pottery and wood carving areas, all the colors of the different paintings lit up in the occasional lightning flashes, the art wing felt like heaven to her. Clawdeen wove between tables to reach shelves dividing the pottery wheels from the painting area. There, she found a pad of the right type of paper, her favorite palette of watercolor paint, and a nice cup holding ten slightly worn but still good brushes. Just having her tools made it feel like things were going to be alright after all. It wasn’t as soothing as sewing was to her, but painting was the next best thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Professor Bob Ross was bitten by an art-loving vampire right before his natural death would occur. The vampire in question had found a love of painting because of the gentle reassurances of the television artist, and wanted to preserve the "everyone can paint" mentality for eternity, to be taught and passed to children of monsters. Professor Ross agreed, especially when he realized that many monster children had nobody to teach them to love art.
> 
> No disrespect meant to the late Bob Ross. He was a wonderful man, and I wish the world still had him.


	7. Chapter 7

Clawdeen nearly skipped back to the study howl, cradling her supplies. She was so excited to paint she walked right past a water fountain and had to double back to fill up her cup. When she walked into the crowded room, Clawdeen had to duck and weave through the students to her table. With a glance over her shoulder, Clawdeen checked to see if Toralei was ready to pose for her painting. Toralei wasn’t where she had been by the fire- she wasn’t near the fire at all. Clawdeen scanned the room- wherever the werecat was, she wasn’t very visible. Clawdeen closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then caught the scent she was looking for. She followed it to a very tall bookcase, one she couldn’t climb.

“Toralei, are you okay?”

The top of the bookcase sniffled out, “Yes.”

“Please come down? I can’t get up there.”

“I don’t want to come down.” There was a bit more sniffling.

“C’mon, ghoul. Come down and we’ll talk about it.” Clawdeen bit her lip, worried. “Please? Don’t cry alone in the dark. You don’t even have to talk about it if you don’t want.” She paused. The sniffling seemed to calm a bit, Toralei’s breathing becoming less choked and slowing into a regular pattern. “Obsessing on what’s happening all alone is just gonna make it worse.”

Clawdeen heard the top of the bookcase shift as Toralei readied herself. Toralei silently landed beside Clawdeen, covered in dust and cobwebs. She wiped her face with a hoodie sleeve and sneezed as the dust got into her delicate nose. 

Clawdeen’s worried frown deepened. Toralei was an absolute mess. Every bit of the miserable werecat drooped, from ears to whiskers to tail. Even her hair seemed to be drooping. Her eyes were swollen and red from a hard cry, one that had left tears and snot in her fur. Clawdeen led her to a table where the others wouldn’t be able to spy on them. Silently, she began picking cobwebs and dust clumps from Toralei’s hair and shoulders. Toralei began to start picking off the dust too, but instead rolled some of the debris between her fingers. She seemed so listless and lost. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Clawdeen asked quietly. Toralei shrugged and passed Clawdeen her phone. 

Clawdeen’s eyebrows raised as she read. The conversation was between Nefera and Toralei, as she had already suspected. From the beginning, Nefera was cold and angry, brushing off of Toralei’s apologies and explanations. For a while, Nefera wasn’t even responding to Toralei’s attempts to reach her undead heart. The sweet affections and “I miss you, I wish I were with you right now”s were ignored. When she finally replied to an “I love you,” it was with the dreaded single letter “k.” When Toralei hadn’t responded immediately (Clawdeen wondered if she had already started crying by that point), Nefera unleashed paragraphs of text detailing all the ways Toralei had let her down, including not quitting fearleading, choosing homework instead of her, and even coming to Monster High today in the first place, saying “you should have known this would happen. I bet you planned it. You didn’t want to be with me, you just wanted to sneak around with Clawdeen.” 

Toralei was accused of cheating on Nefera with everybody, including Clawdeen, Purrsephone, Meowledy, and everybody in both the fealeading squad and the study howl at the moment. Nefera’s proof ranged from her spending time with those people to answering texts and calls. Nefera used this reasoning to break up with Toralei, brutally calling her names in the process. The barrage of texts ended with, “You did this. If you had just been better to me, then I wouldn’t have to leave you now. Goodbye. Don’t ever talk to me again.”

Clawdeen put the phone down and wrapped her arms around Toralei. The were-kitty’s face was buried in her hands, her knees pulled into her chest as she weeped softly. Her sobs shook her thin shoulders as Clawdeen rubbed her back, crooning in sympathy.

Headmistress Bloodgood walked up to them quickly, her brows furrowed in worry. Seeing Clawdeen and Toralei, her steps slowed. Quietly, she asked Clawdeen, “Is everything alright?”

“Breakup,” Clawdeen gestured with her head to Toralei, who didn’t seem to notice Bloodgood was there. 

“I just was wondering where you two had gone. I’m glad you’re still in the howl.” Bloodgood paused, then added, “If you need me, I’ll help in any way I can.”

Clawdeen nodded and Bloodgood walked away, rejoining the group at the fire. Toralei’s sobs were beginning to slow again, her breath still hitching in an uneven pattern. 

“She’s a bitch.” Even Clawdeen was surprised at the growling fury in her whisper. “She had no reason to say those things. You couldn’t have been more faithful if you tried. You were even sweet to her, and you are not a sweet ghoul.” Clawdeen cringed. “Uh, no offense.”

Toralei was shaking her head. “No, no, she’s right. I was awful to her.” Clawdeen couldn’t hold back the scoff. “No, if I loved her enough, I wouldn’t have abandoned her all those times. I shouldn’t have come here at all today.”

Clawdeen rubbed Toralei’s back again. “Sweetie, that’s marshslime. From what I can tell, you were a wonderful girlfriend to her. She was the awful one.”

“No, she’s wonderful.”

“Is this the first time she’s made you cry?” Toralei looked down at her hands. Clawdeen let it drop, her point made. “C’mon ghoul, let’s go get you cleaned up.”

“I look that bad?”

“Yeah, you do. You’ve got snot and cobwebs all over you.” Gently tugging at her hand, Clawdeen led Toralei to the door. In a silent series of head nods, she indicated to Bloodgood where they would be going, and gently pulled Toralei along to the bathroom.

Toralei winced at the feel of the cold water on her paws before she splashed more cold water on her face. A few more splashes and she began to feel a bit better. As she wiped her face off with a paper towel, Toralei felt tickling on the back of her head and neck- Clawdeen was was still gently peeling away cobwebs. Toralei sighed and let her paws drop, relaxing in the feeling. For a second, the comfort was exactly as when her mother used to groom her- the feeling of someone caring enough to make you all nice and neat. 

Toralei’s head felt as if it were far too heavy. She slouched and leaned back into Clawdeen. For a second, Clawdeen tensed in surprise before relaxing and continuing to groom dust from Toralei’s hair. Hot tears welled up and began to spill from her eyes again. Toralei bitterly rubbed them away. With every tear, a thousand thoughts spilled out unbidden.

Most of those thoughts weren’t even fully formed, just huge clumps of painful emotion, the words Nefera had texted shining bright in her mind. Breakups were often nasty things, accusations being thrown and anger leading the way. Many of the things Nefera had said were unfair and cruel, but Toralei couldn’t help but feel it was her fault anyway. It was like a pool of bile swimming in her chest that she couldn’t vomit out and she couldn’t swallow down. Part of her whispered that she was better off without Nefera- that part was relieved that Toralei wouldn’t have to keep jumping for endlessly high expectations. Just like a laser dot, she’d think she hit the mark and always missed by a mile. It was exhausting torture. 

Toralei began to focus again. Clawdeen’s voice sounded dim with distance though she was speaking inches from Toralei’s ear. “-almost all clean. When we get back, you can just text Purrsephone and Meowledy from my phone. If you want, I’ll go delete Nefera from your phone. And you might want to block her, ghoul- she likes to mess with people’s heads and you don’t need that.” Toralei nodded slowly, then stood up. “You’re okay, then?”

“Yeah, I just… I want to talk to my ghouls.” Clawdeen nodded at Toralei’s words. As much as Clawdeen wanted to help, she knew there was no replacement for a ghoul’s best friends.

They plodded back to the study howl in silence. Toralei wasn’t sure how long it had been since the breakup happened. She felt dull inside, and completely worn out. Most of the other students had eased away from the fire into small groups. Soft chatter rippled through the huge space, accented by occasional laughter. Everybody was casual and relaxed, sprawled with books or just on some pillows for comfort. Toralei felt hollow. This had felt like an adventure and now she just wanted to go home and hug her mom. She curled up near the center of the fireplace, her pointed chin resting lightly on her knees as she stared at the flames. 

Clawdeen had grabbed their iCoffins from the back, where they had been left. She flicked hers on as she walked back to the fire, suspecting that Cleo was about to spill Nefera’s side. A glance at the conversation showed she had- long paragraphs punctuated with all-caps. Clawdeen caught a few words- it was clear that Cleo was not on her sister’s side with this breakup. If anything, Clawdeen was willing to bet that Nefera would find herself the subject of a few mysterious curses once Cleo decided on the right amulets to use. 

Toralei was curled up, staring unblinkingly into the fire. Clawdeen sat beside her and handed over the other ghoul’s phone. After a second of looking at the screen- it seemed Nefera had some afterthoughts to text- Toralei handed it back to Clawdeen.   
“Can you block her? And delete it. I don’t want to see that right now.”

“Sure ghoul.” Clawdeen went to the conversation to block Nefera and let out a quiet growl of contempt. Some monsters just couldn’t leave it be. She had just broken Toralei’s heart into pieces and demanded the were-kitty never speak to her- then had texted multiple times chastising her for being “childish” and not responding to the verbal abuse. Clawdeen had half a mind to rip Nefera apart but held herself back- confronting Nefera would just make everything harder on Toralei. She quickly blocked the mummy and deleted every message she had sent in a few quick clicks. A couple more clicks pulled up Toralei’s group chat with the twins. Clawdeen passed the phone back to Toralei.

On her own phone, Clawdeen read the conversation from Cleo more thoroughly. It seemed Nefera had been screaming various things about Toralei since the rain had started, and it was only getting worse. Cleo dripped fury with every syllable, as much as one could over text. It seemed that Nefera had forbidden Cleo from seeing Toralei or Clawdeen again, since they had broken Nefera’s heart. Cleo summarized much of what Nefera had said as “vicious nasty lies spewing from a bitter, wretched-” and then had proceeded to use words that Clawdeen hadn’t known Cleo would lower herself to use. She quickly explained what was happening and signed off from their conversation. It wasn’t even 8 o’clock, and her battery was at fifty percent- she had to start saving her phone. She turned it back off. 

Toralei had been busily clicking her claws on her phone, trying to text fast enough to keep up with Meowledy and Purrsephone. Finally, with a deep sigh, she called Meowledy and lay down beside Clawdeen, her iCoffin resting in front of her face. Curious, Clawdeen raised her eyebrows and gestured with her head. “It’ll be faster if we talk,” Toralei explained.

Clawdeen nodded and lay down on her back, closing her eyes against the bright fire and soaking in the warmth. Though the werecats kept their voices so quiet no other monster in the study howl would possibly be able to hear, Clawdeen’s wolfish ears made their voices clear as could be, even with the static from the storm. For a second, she listened to Purrsephone and Meowledy take turns making fun of Nefera, then forced her keen hearing to focus on the mutters and chatter of the rest of the monsters in the large room. Bloodgood was humming to herself and flipping pages, apparently reading in the light of the fire. Heath was enjoying his increased popularity, laughing and talking with a small crowd surrounding him. From the sounds of it, Manny was talking the others into a game of “Truth or Dare”. Clawdeen sighed. If that started, it was only a matter of time before Manny managed to goad Heath into setting the study howl on fire. A few other students had started a game of chess, and some others were looking for other boardgames in the huge shelves. 

Clawdeen began to bore of the idle conversation. Beyond their crowded room, the rest of the school was huge and empty. A few bats fluttered here and there, but most were cozied up to sleep through the storm. If she really strained her hearing, she could hear snores of one of the beasts in the caverns below the schools. She turned her focus to the outside world and listened to the howling storm. It seemed to have reached the height of its intensity, a roar of wind and crashing branches right outside the thick glass windows. As she listened, a huge branch or small tree smashed into the mud, making a satisfying crunch and squelch. The rain itself was a plethora of dripping and splashing sounds, creating music on the glass of the study howl windows. 

“-for the best. Lei, we missed you.” Meowledy’s voice caught Clawdeen’s ear. 

“I’ve still been here.” Toralei still sounded deeply sad.

“Yes, but you haven’t really been you.”

“And even then, she always tried to stop us from seeing you.” Purrsephone sounded sad, but there was an undercurrent of anger that surprised Clawdeen. Those kitties always seemed so calm and cool, but Clawdeen was suddenly glad she had never really given them a reason to show their claws. 

“I did my best.” Toralei slumped, her head in her paws.

“Sweetie, we’re not saying it’s your fault. But she’s never been good for you. This isn’t how you deserve to be treated.”  
Clawdeen sank down on the ground, and rested a gentle hand on Toralei’s back. The despondent kitty sighed, but didn’t shrug it off, so Clawdeen gently rubbed her back. 

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Toralei murmured. “I really liked her, you know?”

Meowledy hesitatingly said, “Maybe she wasn’t worth it.”

Toralei didn’t respond. Clawdeen stroked her hair gently, trying to offer some comfort as Purrsephone continued, “Lei, Nefera did nothing but try to change and control you. You were as good to her as you could be, and she treated you like dirt.”

“You are a damn goddess and that’s how you deserve to be treated.” 

Clawdeen couldn’t contain a smirk. “Y’know, she’s Egyptian. You think she’d already know better than to disrespect a cat.”

There were a few seconds of shocked silence on the phone before both twins chorused, “Was that Clawdeen Wolf?”

Toralei gave a frustrated groan. “It’s a long story ghouls, but rest assured, everything’s okay.”

Clawdeen wasn’t sure which twin muttered, “Oh, I’m sure it is.”

“Meowledy!” Toralei sat up, irate. “Seriously?”

“Sorry, sorry.” There was a pause before Meowledy gently asked, “Lei, are you going to be okay tonight?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Toralei ran her hands through her hair.

“Clawdeen?”

“Huh?” 

“Look out for her tonight, alright? Since we can’t.”

“Uh, yeah, of course Purrsephone.” They all said their goodnights and Toralei hung up the phone and rolled onto her back. 

“How are you doing?” Clawdeen hesitated before continuing, “Do you need to talk or…?”

Toralei sighed and stretched her arms towards the ceiling above her. “No more talking. I don’t even want to think anymore.”   
Clawdeen scratched her head. “Time for a distraction? We can join one of the games that is going on.There’s a few chess games, parcheesi, Boono, and it looks like Manny got that game of Truth or Dare he wanted.”

Toralei shrugged. “I’ll give Truth or Dare a shot.” She took the offered paw and rose to her feet, leading the way to the circle of students near the other end of the fireplace.


End file.
